This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Tensions grow between Turkey and Kurds in Syria
- Change in Georgia's leadership presents new problems in relations with Russia and Nato
Tensions grow between Turkey and Kurds in Syria
Syrian conflict (AP)
The firing between Turkish troops and Syrian troops across the
Turkey/Syria border may well be a potential war, but it's not the
worst war that Turkey is worried about. There has been a low-level
conflict almost continuously since 1984 between Turkey and the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose goal is an independent state of
Kurdistan. Since July alone, the PKK have launched terrorist attacks
that have killed at least 112 Turks, including 99 from the army.
Because Turkey has supported the opposition to Syria's president
Bashar al-Assad, and is hosting over 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps
in Turkey, al-Assad has freed the Kurds in eastern Syria to govern
themselves and take whatever action against Syria that they wish.
This has energized the Kurdish separatists, and if al-Assad finally
steps down, then the conflict between the Turks and Kurds will still
be unsettled, and could spiral into a major war. Spiegel and McClatchy
Change in Georgia's leadership presents new problems in relations with Russia and Nato
When Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, it took control of two Georgian
provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and has discussed the
possibility of either absorbing them into Russia or recognizing them
as independent nations. A recent election has brought about the
defeat of Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian leader who had fought the
Russians in 2008, and the new leader Bidzina Ivanishvili has expressed
the desire to move away from the extremely bitter relations that came
about in the aftermath of the conflict between the two countries.
However, there are two major issues standing in the way of
reconciliation. The first issue is that the new Georgian leadership
has said that relations with Russia will not be normalized unless
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are returned to Georgia, something that is
not going to happen. The second issue is that the new Georgian
leadership, like the old leadership, wants Georgia to become a member
of Nato, something that Russia strongly opposes.
Foreign Policy Journal
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